SHERBURNE – Upstate New York is outgunned by too many decision makers in Albany who hail from New York City, said Senator James L. Seward (R-Oneonta) yesterday, and taxpayers are already feeling the brunt of higher taxes as a result.
It’s been “a tough and challenging year” in Albany, he added.
Seward visited the Village of Sherburne Thursday night where about 50 people crowded the Sherburne Fire House to participate in his town hall-style meeting. It was one of several that the lawmaker has conducted throughout the state’s 51st district this month.
With Governor David Paterson, the Assembly speaker, the Senate majority leader, the state’s attorney general and the finance committee chair all from the metropolitan area, Seward said the policies set forth this year haven’t address upstate’s needs. He voted against the budget – one that imposes $8 billion in new fees and taxes – for the first time in his 22-year political career.
Legislation passed that would keep the Metropolitan Transportation Authority in operation is an example of these unfavorable policies, he said. The bill, which he called “a bailout of the MTA,” was successfully disputed by downstate school districts and will result in new taxes on upstate districts.
“The governor agreed to give them a reimbursement for the MTA tax, but where will it come from? Upstate school districts!” said Seward.
The decision to withhold STAR rebate checks when people were beginning to fill up their heating fuel tanks was particularly bad timing. He said the move “robbed” working people of $300 to $400 in most cases here.
A newly imposed 2 percent utility tax will cost the average household about $50 more per year, and Department of Motor Vehicle fees and a $25 new license plate requirement are further examples of costs upstate New York’s economy shouldn’t have to withstand.
“I’ve been concerned and disappointed in the direction the state has taken,” Seward said. “I’m hearing over and over that people want to leave New York State and would if they could sell their property.”
Instead, the senator said he would rev up the economy by giving dairy farmers a portion of federal stimulus money, providing more enticing early retirement incentives to government workers, curtailing spending and consolidating government.
“I can’t think of a better way to stimulate upstate’s economy than to use stimulus for dairy farmers. Believe me, they aren’t going to sit on it. They will spend it,” he said.
About $266 million could be saved if the Department of Motor Vehicles and the New York State Thruway Authority were consolidated; clamping down on Medicaid fraud could save about $4 billion; taxes on cigarettes on Indian reservations would bring $500 million in revenues; and ending the state’s recreational land purchases would save $78 million.
Questions from those attending the meeting addressed utility tax hikes, rising fuel costs, mobile home certification requirements, and natural gas exploration. The Senator said taxing natural gas production would be one way to increase the state’s revenues, but drilling should only be done if it can be done safely.
Asked why energy costs are higher, the Senator blamed “bad politics and taxes.”